Introduction: Cerebral palsy is one of the most common central nervous system defects in children. A failure in the central nervous system is a disruption in the functioning of various systems, including the performance of individual upper limb functions. The functioning of the upper limb is defined as the ability to handle objects in everyday activities. Children with cerebral palsy have difficulties participating in everyday activities, which also leads to reduced quality of life. Purpose: In the study, we wanted to first translate the instrument for assessing manual abilities in children with cerebral palsy (ABILHAND-Kids) and then use it to determine how parents of children with cerebral palsy evaluate their children’s ability to perform various activities. Methods of work: In the first part, we reviewed the literature, which included articles found in the online bibliographic databases, such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Cobiss and DiKul. In the second part, the ABILHAND-Kids test was translated into Slovene and then used in the study. The study included parents of children with cerebral palsy, aged 6 to 15, who were included in the rehabilitation program at the Soča University Rehabilitation Institute of the Republic of Slovenia. Results: Children with cerebral palsy are a diverse group of people, for which it is easier to plan individual therapeutic programs using assessment instruments. The use of assessment instruments is a major challenge for occupational therapists, especially when they are less familiar with the assessment instruments. The study included the parents of 10 children who, using the ABILHAND-Kids test, assessed the level of manual abilities in their children. The results obtained in the study were a medium for monitoring the success rate of interventions implemented by the occupational therapist. Discussion and conclusion: In the majority of the studies, which we found in the available literature, the ABILHAND-Kids test was used to compare results with other assessment tests and systems for classifying children with cerebral palsy. Our study’s results of the hand function assessment with the ABILHAND-Kids test showed the activities in which the children were successful and those activities in which the children with cerebral palsy had problems. In the latter, an occupational therapist could incorporate his or hers therapeutic procedures and plan a treatment. The main purpose of an occupational therapy in the treatment of children with cerebral palsy is the use of assessment tools to help improve the children’s functioning and involvement in everyday activities that improve their social interactions and quality of life.
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